


The Great Train Robbery

by stealyourshiny, zeltronparty (reanimatrix)



Category: Star Wars: The Old Republic
Genre: Bounty Hunter, F/M, Humor, Imperial Agent - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-01
Updated: 2013-12-01
Packaged: 2018-01-03 02:49:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1064862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stealyourshiny/pseuds/stealyourshiny, https://archiveofourown.org/users/reanimatrix/pseuds/zeltronparty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Continuing Stoooory of an Imperial Agent and Mandalorian Bounty Hunter thrown together. Imperial Agent storyline spoilers warning. Imperial Agent storyline is followed pretty faithfully, but changes have been made.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Great Train Robbery

Deirdra frowned as she left Darth Jadus’ office. She hated that man, intensely. She could feel him trying to scare her, and what really infuriated her was that she had been actually terrified. Fucking force sensitive bastards. At least she hadn’t given him the pleasure of showing any fear, not an inch of it. All it left her was with an intense anger and a desire to kill him right there, to prove her superiority once and for all, or rather his lack of it. 

But that would not get her paid, and she, Jheffrey, and Malori really needed the money. Besides, it couldn’t be too difficult-- follow this Agent, make sure he wasn’t trying to betray the Empire or whatever. One of the easier jobs she’d taken. 

Assuring herself of that, she headed to the Sith Temple. Sith and their love of ruins, it didn’t make any sense, particularly when they were so obsessed with things being useful.

The fact that he needed to sit down and put together his rifle while still technically within the city limits of Kaas City was somewhat ridiculous. The annoying trooper was watching from a distance, having whined thoroughly to Laisrean about the hacked droids that were attacking people.

He checked his sights and then adjusted them slightly before checking again. He could hear someone else walking into the area behind him. Someone tall, by the time between steps, and well armed by the sounds that accompanied each footfall; probably another trooper.

Lai ignored the sound, even when it stopped a little behind him, and checked his blaster crystal before bringing the gun up and searching for a target through the scope. He found a droid on one of the bridges ahead, probably only a few hundred metres away, and fired. It fell over the edge of the bridge and Lai brought down the rifle with a small smile, only making a few more adjustments to be extra sure of the accuracy before standing up again, stretching his neck and rolling his shoulders.

Deirdra stopped, admiring the view for a moment. He was very nicely built, she could tell even despite the fact that his uniform hid most of it by the shape of his shoulders and how easily he could lift that rifle. 

What she had seen of him matched the description she’d been given by Darth Jadus. Tall, slim, black hair and medium brown skin, with a small mustache over his lip, but otherwise clean cut. 

And even through his uniform pants Deirdra could see he had a rather nice posterior. She grinned for a moment, enjoying the view, then cleared her throat. 

Ignoring her for a moment longer, he checked his power crystal again before leaning the large gun against his shoulder and turning to look at his audience.

“Did you want something, mercenary?” he asked, his voice clipped in annoyance. He had only to take a glance to tell she was a Mandalorian. Her armour was too good for an Imperial Trooper, not to mention the lack of rank insignia.

She studied the scars on the side of his face momentarily, wondering vaguely how they happened, then brought herself back to the matter at hand, a little annoyed by his snappishness.

“Darth Jadus sent me--” she said “He thought you might need help. I’m to go into the Sith Temple with you.”

He scowled and turned away from her. Of course Darth Jadus would send someone with him. Jadus probably knew who Lai’s family was, and therefore didn’t trust him. It was ridiculous, he’d joined Imperial Intelligence to stay _out_ of Sith politics. He began walking toward the docking area that was supposedly littered with hacked droids. She could follow if she wanted, he could tell she could take care of herself, but he wasn’t going to talk to Jadus’ little pet

Deirdra was a little surprised by his reaction, unsure as to what she had done to offend him already. What a little asshole. She already hated him. But at least she got a view of his butt as he walked away from her. That was something though she wasn’t sure it was going to be worth putting up with him. She told herself to think of the money as she followed.

When he reached the first tier of the docking platforms he settled himself on the ground and raised his rifle, using the scope to see what the droids were doing and what was on the other side of the platform. Why the troopers weren’t handling the damned droids, he didn’t know, possibly everyone had been cleared out of the area so they wouldn’t find out about the bomb in the Temple. Though all the archeologists were supposedly still wandering about on the grounds, so that seemed unlikely.

With practiced efficiency, he fired his rifle, making a path through the droids, across the bridge and to the road beyond. This would have gone faster with a speeder, but the grounds around the temple were treacherous and it was probably best to stay on his guard with his feet firmly on the ground.

Lai stood up again and leaned his rifle against his shoulder again as he began to move forward, not caring whether or not the woman continued to follow him.

Deirdra rolled her eyes and continued to follow him. A droid approached from the side and she lit it aflame casually, continuing to walk in order to keep up. This was going to be a long day, she could tell. 

He had a small pistol on his belt that he would use if any droids wandered too close, but he had cleared the path across the bridge pretty well. When he reached the bridge he hesitated a moment before carefully walking down the centre of it, keeping eyes forward and thinking of all the ways he’d like to kill Darth Jadus for sending him to the temple, and then saddling him with a mercenary.

When he came down the other side, there was a droid he had missed, it having been behind some boxes. He brought his rifle down quickly, but the woman had apparently continued to follow him, and the droid was soon aflame. Laisrean raised an eyebrow at it then glanced at her.

“Thanks,” he said after a moment, re-shouldering his rifle. He supposed having someone to watch his back would be useful, but he still wasn’t going to talk to her. She wasn’t getting any little nuggets of information from him to take back to Darth Jadus.

She shrugged at him, indicating it wasn’t a problem. She could be short and unfriendly too. Asshole. 

She followed him, both of them clearing the path of droids, though he did most of the work since he was able to get them from farther distance than she was.

The Dark Temple loomed over them, filling Deirdra with a sense of dread she didn’t like. There was nothing in there she couldn’t handle, she told herself, infuriated by her own emotions. She followed him in silently, looking at the looming walls and the archaic Sith architecture. Why they didn’t knock this whole mess down and build over it was beyond her. There was nothing in here worth saving. 

The archeologist camps outside the temple had been sparse. Not many seemed to have escaped the madness that was pervading the building. Everywhere they walked there were slaves, Sith, and soldiers all possessed by the spirits of the dead Sith that had been buried there millennia before.

They had only gotten a few metres into the temple and already the sweat was pouring down the sides of his face. He could see the mercenary was sweating as well as he sat with his back against a wall, trying to catch his breath. There had been a _lot_ of people in and out of the temple and all of them were hostile. Lai unbuttoned the top of his military coat and closed his eyes briefly.

“For somewhere that’s supposed to be forbidden, this place is pretty packed,” he commented, opening his eyes again, watching the woman as she leaned against the wall above him.

Deirdra stood up a little straighter, startled by his decision to speak to her. “Tell me about it,” she replied after getting over her initial surprise. She fanned at her face, glad of her decision to not wear her helmet at the moment. Her armor was already like an oven and the helmet would have made it even worse.

“What’re we after anyway?” she asked, raising an eyebrow, “Jadus just told me I’m to assist you.” 

And watch him, but she didn’t want to say that. She suspected he could tell anyway. 

“A bomb,” Lai replied after staring at her for a moment, frowning slightly. “Some rebellious sect threatening to blow the Dark Temple.”

He pulled himself to his feet then, noting her accent was definitely Mandalorian. “Did the Sith tell you anything else?”

They way he said ‘Sith’ was the way most people said ‘cockroach’.

Deirdra grinned a little. She liked this agent, when he wasn’t being an ass. They obviously shared an opinion on the Sith anyway. “Nope, he said you’d brief me. Can’t think of why anyone would want to blow this place up, personally,” she said dryly, looking up at the Sith structure with distaste. Sith had the worst architecture. 

“It’s near the city, it’s a Sith holy site, it’ll get people’s attention,” Lai replied, checking his gun before moving around the wall they’d been resting against. “They’re supposedly in the basement, near the support pillars of something important. One of these tomb hallways will probably lead further down.”

Deirdra shrugged in acquiescence, he had a point. Still, she felt the place would be better off without the Sith temple, but she was being paid to preserve it, so preserve it she would. “Let’s go then,” she said, starting to walk but giving him a chance to keep up.

He followed her, carefully stepping over rubble and bodies as he went. The possessed people were killing each other with enthusiasm. He wondered how the rebels had gotten into the temple without going insane themselves. Not to mention getting killed.

“You sure they’re not dead?” Deirdra asked after a quick survey. It was a wonder that anyone could survive this, “Or batshit crazy?” Well, they were obviously batshit crazy, they wanted to blow up an old Sith building when there were such better things to blow up out there. What a waste. 

“No, I’m not sure,” he replied, annoyed that she was speaking his thoughts aloud. “I was told to come stop them by someone more important than my boss, here I am.”

Mercenaries were so annoying. It wasn’t as if he wouldn’t have tried to stop the rebels anyway, without Jadus throwing his weight around; she was only here because of money. “Wait, I remember now, there’s an access tunnel from the Temple to the power conduits below the city. It’s the far western corner.”

“Why would anyone put an access tunnel from this place to the power conduits below the city?” Deirdra asked, looking at the agent with a raised eyebrow. “It seems really… I mean why? Oh we need to maintain the power conduits, let’s go to the creepy old temple.” 

Laisrean took a deep breath and sighed, trying very hard not to roll his eyes. “The temple is thousands of years old. You think perhaps the power conduits were put in a convenient location that didn’t require much work to stick them in? It’s a back door. Not many people know about it. In fact, I didn’t know until Darth Jadus told me I had to come here and kill people.”

He walked past her, wanting to get to the passage and disarm the bombs as quickly as possible, if only to get away from her.

“It’s still the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,” she said to his back, making a face. Imps were so uptight. 

She followed him down the passage alert for anything that might attack them. 

“Next time they need to build a city over the ruins of a thousand-year-old one, I’m sure they’ll call you,” Laisrean retorted, pursing his lips and holding his gun at the ready as they moved carefully down the passage. It was eerily quiet, after the busy hallways full of crazy people.

“I hope not, Sith are kriffing nuts,” Deirdra replied dryly, in hushed tones. She knew he was being sarcastic but it was too easy a reply not to take advantage of it. Even while she was whispering she could hear a faint echo of her words in the empty hall, and it was creepy. She hoped it wouldn’t take too long to actually get to the action, this was disturbing.

The rifleman only snorted softly in response. Finally they reached a platform. It was more modern than the rest of the temple and Lai could hear voices below them. He carefully crouched down, moving as close to the edge as he dared, keeping his eyes very firmly focused on the people on the platform below. He could see three devices, they were still unarmed and being set up.

Deirdra waited behind him, blaster ready. She peeked over Laisrean’s shoulder, taking in the scene. There were altogether about five people. None of them seemed to be armed, but you never knew.

“Any ideas?” she asked the agent. She worked better alone but she knew better than to run in without a plan. 

“First of all, you can be _quiet_ ,” Laisrean snapped softly. Looking through the rifle scope, he saw that there were a total of six people. They seemed to be putting the finishing touches on one or two of the bombs. Lai lined up the sights of the nearest person and quickly fired off two shots. The sound of the body hitting the metal grate rang through the room. Lai swore under his breath and moved back from the grating to avoid the blaster shots that flew up toward them.

Deirdra rolled her eyes at the agent as she jumped down into the fray, taking at least one person by surprise just by appearing and knocking them out with one well placed, rocket pack backed punch. She moved on to the next person, aiming her flamethrower at them as they came forward to attack.

Which was exactly what Lai was expecting her to do. He took the opportunity to let the blonde woman deal with the other rebels while he skittered down the catwalk to the nearest charge. Quickly, he disarmed it and moved to the next one, only listening to the battle with the bounty hunter with half an ear.

By the time he reached the last charge, the battle appeared to be over and the bounty hunter was already checking the bodies for anything of value. It was therefore very annoying when he missed the last rebel coming up to him on his right until it was almost too late. A reflection on the surface of the detonation charge was all the warning he had that someone was behind him. Lai turned and quickly caught the man’s wrist, wresting the blaster from the rebel’s hand and hitting him in the face with it before finishing the job with the man’s own weapon.

He dropped the blaster in disgust, glancing up to meet the bounty hunter’s curious gaze. Her eyes flicked to his rifle, which he’d holstered onto his back then to the dead man on the ground. Lai pushed the body out of the way with his foot before kneeling down to finish disarming the final charge.

“Not bad,” Deirdra complimented him with an approving nod. “You could have stayed up there the whole time, you know.” She finished rifling through the pockets of the body, finding a couple credits but nothing else of value. She tucked her findings away in a pouch at her belt and looked around. He had already disarmed all the charges then. Well.

“The charges were set to go off, I could see them through my scope,” he replied. “These were suicide bombers it appears. So unless you wanted to get blown up, it was somewhat necessary for me to come down here.”

Lai picked up the detonators and took them to the edge of the catwalk, tossing them over into the depths of the temple where they wouldn’t ‘accidentally’ be used by any of the insane people wandering the temple halls. 

His holocom began to chirp, and he frowned. They would not be contacting him like this, they would wait for his report when he got back. He glanced over at the bounty hunter and then walked some distance away from her, pulling the device out and switching it on.

Informing Watcher Two that the charges had been disarmed and that a cleanup crew would be needed to remove the explosives was relayed, only for her to cut him off.

“Darth Jadus is dead.”

He managed to keep his face perfectly straight, despite having to bite his tongue to suppress the laugh that had threatened to bark out.

“The Dominator was destroyed in orbit with him on it, as well as somewhere around ten-thousand civilians. It seems the Dark Temple was not the only target.”

The fact that the Dark Temple had been a target at all had annoyed him. Darth Jadus had been the only person who had information on the attack, and with him now dead there was no way to track down his sources and find out why the Darth had known, but Intelligence had not. Lai finally acknowledged he’d received Watcher Two’s notice and would return immediately to base before switching the holo off and glancing back at the bounty hunter, who was looking over the edge of the catwalk at the darkness below.

 _Probably saw some credits glinting at the bottom or something_ , he thought cynically.

“Well, it seems you won’t be getting paid,” he said, smirking very slightly at her. His little babysitter had no one to report to now.

Deirdra stiffened ever so slightly, more annoyed at the Imperial Agent’s smug attitude than his actual words.

“Oh?” was her only response along with a raised eyebrow. “What makes you say that?” 

“It appears your benefactor’s ship, along with himself and ten-thousand civilians, has just exploded in orbit,” Laisrean replied. He un-holstered his rifle again and began to move across the platform toward the exit. She could follow or not, he didn’t have to worry about her anymore.

“Stupid Sith,” was Deirdra’s only reply. She wasn’t terribly upset. She’d gotten half payment from the start and anyway she’d had way more difficult jobs. The worst part was the creepy Sith temple.

“Should blow up this place,” she mused out loud. Fucking Sith. 

That made him pause slightly in his step before continuing. For someone who took their money to spy on non-Force users, she didn’t seem to like them much.

He supposed everyone had to make a living somehow.

“Wouldn’t do much good. It has ways of protecting itself,” he replied, only half to her, glancing at the ceiling. “Let’s go.”

She shrugged and followed him out of the enclave. It was a pretty easy trip, except for the occasional attack from a crazed wanderer, which was easily handled, there wasn’t much trouble as they headed back to camp to catch the speeder back to Kaas City proper. 

He was glad to get away from that place. It was oppressive and he could feel that it was wrong. Being away from it made him feel infinitely better.

The speeders took them back to Imperial Intelligence. She could corroborate his report, he supposed, though he wasn’t sure why else she would follow him into the building. Perhaps to hear news about her former employer?

“Ah, Agent,” Watcher Two said as he came onto the platform. She glanced at the Hunter and then back to him. “Keeper wishes to speak with you. Hunter, if you could please come with me?”

Deirdra nodded and followed the dark haired woman, slightly confused. She’d heard things about the Imps and their Intelligence (such an oxymoron) that she didn’t like. She’d given them no reason to try to torture information out of her or something but she wouldn’t put it past them to do it anyway. She prepared herself for a fight, taking note of the turns they were making and the terrain in general. If they thought they were going to get a chance to “interrogate” her they were painfully wrong.

“Here you are, Ms Arenai,” Watcher Two said, gesturing to a large holodisplay. There was a young woman standing and waiting; a Sith from her clothing and make-up. “Darth Zhorrid is Darth Jadus’ daughter, and she wished to hear your report and speak with you privately. When you are finished there will be someone in the hall to escort you back.”

Oh this was going to be fun. She should have known better than to take this kriffing job, no matter how much money they offered it was never worth dealing with Sith. She nodded at the Watcher, who certainly wasn’t to blame, and then turned back to the holodisplay. Stars, Sith were so disgustingly gaudy. She could hear Malori laughing at this one’s dramatic makeup. She bit back a grin, knowing the pompous asshole behind the holodisplay would probably take issue with it as she looked back at at her, waiting for for the Sith to speak first, but not bowing her head or showing any sign of deference. 

“You are the Bounty Hunter my father hired to watch that Agent, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” Deirdra replied, crossing her arms. Oh, what she would have done to be sarcastic, but of course that wasn’t professional.

“Why did my father want this Agent followed?”

“He didn’t trust him… felt he lacked respect for the Sith and therefore dedication to the Empire,” Deirdra replied with a flippant shrug. This one was probably as much of an egotistical idiot as the one before her, they didn’t make them any other way, after all. 

“Give me a full report of what happened while you were in the Temple.”

Deirdra rolled her eyes to herself, though she was polite enough not to actually do it at the Sith Lord. She proceeded to relay everything to Darth Zhorrid, from the dangerous, delusional inhabitants of the dark temple to taking down the charges and receiving the call from Imperial Intelligence that had brought her here. 

“I see. I am then continuing your contract. I wish for you to remain with the Agent and to report back to me your doings. My father felt he was important for some reason, so I shall not ignore him.”

“Understood,” Deirdra said. She had mixed feelings. On the one hand, Jeffrey and Malori need this money to fund their entry into the Great Hunt, and also it would definitely annoy that obnoxious agent. On the other hand she had to keep dealing with said obnoxious agent and the Empire in general and the Sith in particular. Something in her gut told her she should decline the contract, but the lure of money for an easy job won out. 

“Good. Send in the Watcher again. I will give her the orders,” Zhorrid said, waving her hand dismissively at Deirdra.

As soon as Deirdra turned her back on the Sith she made a rude face as she walked to the door and informed Watcher Two that Darth Zhorrid wanted to speak to her again. 

The Watcher only looked resigned and gestured for someone to come and take Deirdra back to the main control room before disappearing into the communications room again.

By the time she was escorted all the way back, the Agent was there with Keeper, seemingly waiting for her.

“Ah, Ms Arenai,” Keeper said, sounding only slightly annoyed. “Darth Zhorrid had indicated that you are to remain as part of Cipher Nine’s crew. I wish to make it clear that you are not to hinder his work in any way. If you put him or his mission in danger, there will be dire consequences, regardless of what the Darth says.”

“I wasn’t hired to hinder his work, was I?” Deirdra responded sharply, a little annoyed at the way both the Agent and Keeper treated her. Still, she had to give them some points for making sure she knew they didn’t care about Darth Zhorrid’s wishes. “My orders are to watch him, not to interfere in any way. I honestly don’t give enough of a bantha shit to even try to hinder his ever so important work.” 

“Good,” Keeper said with a brief nod. “Your first assignment is on Balmorra. Your ship is waiting at the spaceport, Cipher. Good luck.”

With that, the older man turned on his heel and walked away, leaving Laisrean to scowl at the woman beside him.

Deirdra simply turned and gave Laisrean a tight grin. “Looks like you’re going to have to put up with me a little longer, Agent,” she said with relish. If she was going to be stuck working for the Empire she might as well have fun at its expense.

**


End file.
